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CANTO FOURTH.
l. 31. 'Alias "Will o' the Wisp." This personage is a strolling demon or esprit follet, who, once upon a time, got admittance into a monastery as a scullion, and played the monks many pranks. He was also a sort of Robin Goodfellow, and Jack o' Lanthern. It is in allusion to this mischievous demon that Milton's clown speaks,—
'"The History of Friar Rush" is of extreme rarity, and, for some time, even the existence of such a book was doubted, although it is expressly alluded to by Reginald Scot, in his "Discovery of Witchcraft." I have perused a copy in the valuable library of my friend Mr. Heber; and I observe, from Mr. Beloe's "Anecdotes of Literature," that there is one in the excellent collection of the Marquis of Stafford.'—Scott.
It may be added, on the authority of Keightley, that Friar Rush 'haunted houses, not fields, and was never the same with Jack-o'-the-Lanthorn.' See note on Milton's 'L'Allegro,' 104, in Clarendon Press edition, also Preface to Midsummer Night's Dream in same series.
Stanza IV. l. 69. Humbie and Saltoun are adjoining parishes in S.W. of Haddingtonshire. To this day there is a charm in the remote rural character of the district. There are, about Humble in particular, wooded glades that might well represent the remains of the scene witnessed by Marmion and his troopers. East and West Saltoun are two decayed villages, about five miles S.W. of the county town. Between them is Saltoun Hall, the seat of the Fletchers.
l. 91. 'William Caxton, the earliest English printer, was born in Kent, A.D. 1412, and died 1401. Wynken de Worde was his next successor in the production of those
"Rare volumes, dark with tarnished gold,"
which are now the delight of bibliomaniacs.'—Lockhart.
Stanza VI. l. 119. The four heraldic terms used are for the colours—red, silver, gold, and blue.
l. 120. The King-at-arms was superintendent of the heralds.
Stanza VII. l. 133. Sir David Lyndsay's exposure of ecclesiastical abuses in his various satires, especially in his 'Complaynts' and his 'Dialog,' powerfully forwarded the movement that culminated in the Reformation. It would, however, be a mistake to consider him an avowed Protestant reformer. He was concerned about the